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Data

Businesses and employees by canton, 2024

A high number of businesses does not automatically make a canton the right sales territory. Official regional totals are not available export volumes.

Reference year 2024 · population on 31 December 2024 · FSO tables of 20 August 2026, retrieved on 25/10/2026 · by Martin Adamec

Compare cantons on the same scale

  1. Compare cantons per 1,000 inhabitants or by size class, not only by absolute numbers.

  2. Note that STATENT counts businesses at their head office; branches in other cantons do not appear there.

Name cantons for a selection

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  • 649,353businesses in Switzerland in 2024
  • 89.2 %of which with 1 to 9 employees (579,431)
  • 13,333with 50 or more employees (2.1 %)
  • 71.7businesses per 1,000 inhabitants

Businesses per canton

The table can be scrolled sideways.

Businesses by canton and number of employees, reference year 2024, sorted by total. Source: FSO, STATENT, table px-x-0602010000_106 (businesses and employees by canton) and px-x-0602010000_107, reference year 2024, table updated 20 August 2026; inhabitants: FSO, STATPOP, table px-x-0102010000_101 (permanent resident population), reference date 31 December 2024, table updated 20 August 2026. Shares and values per 1,000 inhabitants calculated by kontaktdatenbank.ch; empty cells not published by the FSO.
CantonTotalShare of CH1–910–4950–249250+Employeesper 1,000 inh.
Zurich113,10117.4 %100,15510,3042,1425001,185,92969.8
Bern70,94810.9 %62,6196,7751,325229749,82766.2
Vaud59,2419.1 %53,6844,520843194476,01269.3
Aargau42,0516.5 %37,5143,653739145339,77257.1
Geneva41,2606.4 %36,9843,417706153366,21877.7
Ticino36,4755.6 %33,2222,71546969220,914101.6
St. Gallen35,1345.4 %30,9463,331723134315,48865.1
Lucerne31,0134.8 %27,2843,056572101277,30770.8
Valais29,0174.5 %26,1342,47536147182,78578.2
Fribourg21,9893.4 %19,7641,86830156166,71063.4
Thurgau20,2013.1 %18,0191,77535354146,58367.4
Zug19,9223.1 %17,8091,71731581153,654149.0
Graubünden18,3622.8 %16,2321,77830646130,46889.1
Basel-Landschaft17,8762.8 %15,8541,60035765144,74459.3
Basel-Stadt16,4392.5 %14,6791,35231692272,35381.6
Solothurn16,3852.5 %14,5251,46634549137,84856.5
Schwyz15,7922.4 %14,3411,1942332494,43793.5
Neuchâtel12,6942.0 %11,3851,04122345105,60470.7
Jura6,1280.9 %5,5344691101542,23581.9
Schaffhausen5,9530.9 %5,2965251201245,34867.1
Appenzell Ausserrhoden4,6150.7 %4,220318661127,68481.4
Nidwalden3,9230.6 %3,55529826,27486.5
Obwalden3,5250.5 %3,183922,40988.9
Glarus3,0430.5 %2,703276531122,58271.8
Uri2,5310.4 %2,2341018,22866.1
Appenzell Innerrhoden1,7350.3 %1,5561509,608103.7
Switzerland649,353100.0 %579,43156,58911,1732,1605,681,02171.7

Columns 1–9 to 250+: number of employees of the business. Each business counts once, in the canton of its head office. The FSO publishes workplaces (establishments at further locations) in separate tables.

What the table shows

  • Three cantons account for 37.5 % of businesses: Zurich (113,101), Bern (70,948), Vaud (59,241).
  • Most businesses are small. In every canton with a published figure, at least 88.0 % have 1 to 9 employees (lowest share: Lucerne); across Switzerland it is 89.2 %. Businesses with 250 or more employees make up 0.3 %.
  • Density: per 1,000 inhabitants the range is from 56.5 in Solothurn to 149.0 in Zug. Highest values: Zug 149.0, Appenzell Innerrhoden 103.7, Ticino 101.6, Schwyz 93.5.
  • Larger businesses: the most employees per business on average are in Basel-Stadt (16.6), Bern (10.6), Zurich (10.5); the Swiss average is 8.7.

For campaign planning this means: a Switzerland-wide selection consists mostly of micro businesses. If you only want to address businesses above a certain size, state that as a criterion from the start.

Definitions

  • Businesses in STATENT are institutional units: legally independent units paying social security (AHV) contributions for their staff or themselves, including farms and public administration units.
  • Employees are persons with income subject to AHV contributions, regardless of their working hours.
  • Per 1,000 inhabitants: businesses divided by the permanent resident population on 31 December 2024, times 1,000, rounded to one decimal place.

Methodological notes

  • Head office principle. Large businesses headquartered in one canton with operations in other cantons only count at their head office. Cantons with many group headquarters such as Basel-Stadt therefore have many employees per business.
  • Confidential cells. In small cantons the FSO does not publish individual size classes. We do not recalculate them from other figures.
  • Industry figures on this website come from the same statistics; the number of commercial register entries counts differently, see Commercial register by legal form.

Citation

The figures come from the Federal Statistical Office; you may use them with attribution. Retrieved on 25/10/2026. Suggestion:

kontaktdatenbank.ch: Businesses and employees by canton, 2024. Based on FSO, STATENT 2024 (tables px-x-0602010000_106 and _107) and STATPOP 2024 (px-x-0102010000_101), updated 20 August 2026. Retrieved on 25 October 2026. https://kontaktdatenbank.ch/en/daten/unternehmen-nach-kantonen/

Businesses in a particular canton?

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